Invited 
by the Singaporean government, Pacific Air Forces airmen and machines performed for crowds at the 2012 Singapore Air Show held at Changi International Airport. Flying demos included a C-17 from JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. USAF’s static-display contingent included an E-3A AWACS and a KC-135. One of the largest air and trade shows in the world, the Singapore event reportedly attracted some 145,000 visitors from Feb. 14-19. (13th Air Force release)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…